RIDING ALASKA

Rad hearing from Drew and what he’s been up to in Alaska so far. He’s been working at the bike shop and getting out quite a bit now that the weather is getting a bit warmer. He gave a full writeup on what he’s been up to and a little insight on the photo below.

Greetings from Alaska! The snow is disappearing and new spots are revealing themselves daily out here, stoked on all the terrain I have found here so far. The riding scene up here is small but tight knit and dedicated, I have been meeting new riders just about every time I go out though they have all been crushing me at games of BIKE. I have been exploring the state and taking in all the sights every chance I can get, spending a lot of time outdoors and on the MTB when not riding or spot searching on the BMX.

A couple of weeks ago I got the idea to try and shoot a riding photo during the northern lights. Before coming up here I always thought it was a nightly spectacle but its far from that. The lights only happen every so often and they are very hard to forecast, so the odds of them happening on a clear night during a time when both you and the photographer are willing and able to sit out in the cold for hours is pretty slim. Not to mention you have to find a spot outside the light pollution of the city, and pull of a trick in more or less darkness so the aurora doesn’t get blown out. Needless to say its not going to be an easy photo to shoot. Last week on what seemed like our best opportunity we headed out to this abandoned bridge and got set-up and waited for the lights to show. We popped off a few angles of this beam ride to make sure we were going to get what we wanted, and in hindsight I’m glad we did because the lights ended up being a no-show. After a few hours out waiting in the cold we packed up and headed home and as soon as I pulled into my drive a vibrant and beautiful aurora danced across the sky, go figure. We are approaching the time of year where it won’t get dark enough to capture an aurora so we are just going to have to try again for that photo in September but rest assured it will be mine! Huge thanks to Josh Hejl for sitting out in the cold with me and entertaining my incessant questions about bears as well shooting these photos.